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The other day I got a message letting me know that I needed to delete some things because my memory was almost full. The next day I turned on my computer and all of my files were gone! I downloaded this program that recovered all my deleted files, but I need to purchase it to actually get them back on my computer. This must mean that they are somewhere... right? Is there any way I can get them myself?

The other day I got a message letting me know that I needed to delete some things because my memory was almost full. The next day I turned on my computer and all of my files were gone! I downloaded this program that recovered all my deleted files, but I need to purchase it to actually get them back on my computer. This must mean that they are somewhere... right? Is there any way I can get them myself?

Thanks verily,
Joshua

What was the message exactly? Can you take a picture of the screen? What "recovery" software did you install? It sounds suspiciously like extortion ware. It tells you it can recover the files - if and only if you pay? Sounds like crap to me.
Can you get into Disk utility and run a check on the drive?

To me this sounds like there is a problem with the hard drive. As far as recovering the files, there should be some free programs available you just have to look around.

Here is some helpful information about doing data recovery. Never recover the data to the drive that lost the data, use an external drive. The way it works is the data is still on the drive, but the table at the beginning to tell where it is has been wiped, so the space is usable, but something exist there which will quickly overwrite. Most people don't know that this is what happens when you delete files on your computer. So if you start recovering data to the same drive you will begin wiping over the data on the drive and there is about a 99% chance it will be wiping over different files.

What "recovery" software did you install? It sounds suspiciously like extortion ware. It tells you it can recover the files - if and only if you pay? Sounds like crap to me.

Both DataRescue3 and DiskDrill have demo periods in where they will show you what files it can recover and then you can make up your mind if you really want to buy it.
I mean would you really want to buy a 100$ recovery software only to find out it can't recover a single file for some reason?

OP:
One question, are these files on your internal HD? I wonder because the only thing I know that starts deleting files if the HD is full is TimeMachine.

As to recovering:
Bear in mind that whatever a Recovery Software recovers will VERY like be not bootable (Aka no complete OS that will work), if your lucky it will recover most or all of your files which you can then move from your external HD.

So this is how I would tackle this.

#1 Get a external HD that is (ideally) double of what you have in your computer. So on my case, I have a 250 GB HD, so I would get a 500 GB to be on the safe side and not run out of space when the recovery software is running.

#2 Get either DataRescue3 (Highly recommend by regulars here) or DiskDrill Pro (A newish application, but also very good in getting back data)

#3 Run it and have it recover files to your external HD

#4 Copy back your files files, OR and I'd recommend this so you don't have the same space problem again.

#4 Get a significantly bigger internal HD for your Mac, Macsales.com has good replacement guides and HD's.

I have to agree with McYukon and his steps for data recovery. I would not just stick with Macsales.com as a supplier for hard drives, I use newegg.com the are usually the cheapest and tigerdirect.com also has them on sale every now and then. With them you have to know what you are looking for though. Just shop around before ordering.

If you are looking at replacing or upgrading the drive, just post back with What model computer you have and me or someone else would be able to tell you what to look for.

Both DataRescue3 and DiskDrill have demo periods in where they will show you what files it can recover and then you can make up your mind if you really want to buy it.
I mean would you really want to buy a 100$ recovery software only to find out it can't recover a single file for some reason?

Sounds like an attempt to extort desperate people who need their data recovered.
I can't hep but think, the "preview" version would be overly optimistic when it told the user how many and which files it could recover.

Sounds like an attempt to extort desperate people who need their data recovered.
I can't hep but think, the "preview" version would be overly optimistic when it told the user how many and which files it could recover.

I can't speak for those apps but used a couple in Trial and they Showed everything that could be recovered and when paid for, they did recover it all.

Both DataRescue3 and DiskDrill have demo periods in where they will show you what files it can recover and then you can make up your mind if you really want to buy it.
I mean would you really want to buy a 100$ recovery software only to find out it can't recover a single file for some reason?

OP:
One question, are these files on your internal HD? I wonder because the only thing I know that starts deleting files if the HD is full is TimeMachine.

As to recovering:
Bear in mind that whatever a Recovery Software recovers will VERY like be not bootable (Aka no complete OS that will work), if your lucky it will recover most or all of your files which you can then move from your external HD.

So this is how I would tackle this.

#1 Get a external HD that is (ideally) double of what you have in your computer. So on my case, I have a 250 GB HD, so I would get a 500 GB to be on the safe side and not run out of space when the recovery software is running.

#2 Get either DataRescue3 (Highly recommend by regulars here) or DiskDrill Pro (A newish application, but also very good in getting back data)

#3 Run it and have it recover files to your external HD

#4 Copy back your files files, OR and I'd recommend this so you don't have the same space problem again.

#4 Get a significantly bigger internal HD for your Mac, Macsales.com has good replacement guides and HD's.